Chapter 7 Solutions — The Necklace

Her husband, M. Loisel, is a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. He is a simple, contented and loving man, easily pleased with small comforts — he uncovers the dinner "with a delighted air" and says he knows "nothing better" than the good pot-pie.

He is caring and self-sacrificing. He works hard to obtain the party invitation to please her, and gives up the four hundred francs he had saved to buy a gun so that she can have a pretty dress.

He is also loyal and responsible. After the necklace is lost, he searches the streets, goes to the police and newspapers, and borrows heavily, sharing the ten years of ruinous labour to repay the debt.

The root cause of Matilda's ruin was her vanity, discontent and false pride. Dissatisfied with her modest life, she craved luxury and refused to appear poor before rich women, which led her to borrow the diamond necklace in the first place.

The immediate cause was carelessness in losing the borrowed necklace, followed by dishonesty — instead of confessing the loss, the couple secretly replaced it with a costly new one and lied to Mme Forestier.

She could have avoided her ruin by being content with what she had, as her husband suggested (he offered natural flowers as ornaments). Above all, she could have simply told Mme Forestier the truth about the lost necklace; had she done so, she would have learned it was false and worth only five hundred francs, sparing herself ten years of misery.

On reaching home after the ball, Matilda discovers that the necklace is no longer around her neck. The couple search everywhere — "in the folds of the dress, in the folds of the cloak, in the pockets" — but cannot find it.

Loisel dresses again and retraces on foot the whole route they had walked, hoping to find it, but returns having found nothing.

He then goes to the police and the cab offices and puts an advertisement in the newspapers offering a reward. When all hope is lost, he tells Matilda to write to Mme Forestier that she has broken the clasp of the necklace and is having it repaired, to buy them time.